Dr M. S. Randhawa was a
multi-faceted personality whose passions extended from agriculture to the arts.
In a life lived full and well, he pursued these with zeal and accomplished
much. Reeta Sharma recalls the man who was
instrumental in setting up the PAU

As an ICS officer, Randhawa mingled with the highest in the land, but he remained a farmer at heart (Above) M.S Randhawa with S. Radhakrishnan and (below) with Indira Gandhi

A
majority of us are born to lead a routine life, chasing existence. Others more
gifted, leave inventions or creations for fellow beings. Yet another category
is that of people with a vision. They implement this vision with perseverance
and leave their footprints for future generations. M.S. Randhawa belongs to
this category.

It was the night of India’s
freedom after 200 years of British rule. Jawaharlal Nehru was to unfurl the
National Flag from the Red Fort in the morning. A man was unfurling the Flag
after every one hour the whole night. He was going through the motions,
including wrapping the flowers, hoisting it and then unfurling it at the
strategic point again and again. He was none other than M.S. Randhawa, the then
Deputy Commissioner, Delhi. A perfectionist, he was afraid that something may
go wrong and did not want to take any chance since it was an emotional and
historic moment for all. This incident symbolises the kind of focus that came
to be associated with Randhawa.

He was studying in the Khalsa
School at Muktsar when his father received a letter in the name of, "Dr.
M.S. Randhawa" from the Governor of Punjab. His father was flabbergasted
when 12-year-old Mohinder Singh Randhawa told him that he had himself posted
this letter because one day a letter like this would come to him. And it did.
Only a person with vision and confidence could dream like the 12-year-old did.

Born in 1908 to Bachint Kaur and
tehsildar Sher Singh, he did his matriculation with science, his favourite
subject.

He opted for DAV College, Lahore,
for his BSc because the Government College was more expensive. However, he did
his MSc from Government College Lahore. Randhawa’s selection to the ICS too
has an interesting story associated with it. While standing at the window of
the college office he happened to go through a form for the ICS exam about
which he knew nothing. He was delighted to see the form because he knew all the
subjects mentioned. When he asked the office clerk about the importance of ICS,
his childhood dream shone in his eyes and he enthusiastically filled the form.
He cleared the ICS in the first attempt. He served as Deputy Commissioner at
Faizabad, Almora and Sahranpur before he got his cadre changed to Punjab.

A forthright and outspoken man,
Randhawa’s career as a bureaucrat speaks volumes about his efficiency. When
the riots broke out during Partition in Delhi, the then DC Le Belle adopted a
very inhuman stance.

Since Randhawa had already worked
with Dr Radhakrishnan, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, his name was
suggested as the additional D.C. to balance the acts of Le Belle.

On joining, he immediately
realised that he had to remove the insecurity from the minds of Muslims. He
immediately began meeting Muslim delegations and took steps to ensure an end to
bloodshed. Within a short period he brought the situation under control. His
role in the riots portrays him as a man of compassion, justice and a true
believer of brotherhood among fellow beings. This aspect of his personality
comes out of his own diary in which he maintained the minute details of his
official life.

On his return to Punjab, he
discovered there was total chaos over the land left by Muslims. He devised the
concept of consolidation of land in Punjab. The refugees from Pakistan were
accommodated on this land. After a semblance of normalcy was restored, the
Government of India sent him to Geneva to learn about modern agricultural
techniques. Unlike bureaucrats for whom trips to foreign countries are either
for fun or for self-promotion, Randhawa took his trip to Geneva earnestly. On
his return, he laid the foundation of an institution from where a future
revolution would take place.

He pursued the idea of setting up
the Punjab Agricultural University. The first of its kind in the country, it
was conceived by Randhawa right down to the last details.

At PAU, he set up a museum and
art gallery as well to depict the rural life of this region. Ancient
agricultural implements, each and every aspect of the rural and folk art and
music are all imaginatively displayed at this museum, showing how far ahead of
his times he was. This museum and art gallery was inaugurated by Khushwant
Singh in 1973. Yet another feather in Randhawa’s cap was the novel idea of
setting up of a library at PAU for the welfare of farmers. This unique library
made available all research conducted at the PAU.

A bureaucrat, a farmer at heart,
Randhawa was also an admirer of the arts. When he travelled to Kangra on
horseback, in the course of his official duties, he was the first one to
discover Kangra paintings. He bought these paintings from unknown artists and
compiled a book called Kangra Paintings. He was the brain behind Roop
Lekha, a magazine which published paintings. The well-known art critic W.E.
Archer, a friend, guided and helped Randhawa in all his work on Kangra
paintings.

As the first Commissioner of the
Union Territory of Chandigarh, Randhawa played a pivotal role that ensured his
place in history. The entire lay out of the landscape and the aboriculture of
Chandigarh is his gift to the successive generations.

The concept of planting
ornamental trees planted in a very systematic manner on both sides of the roads
throughout the north of Chandigarh was to provide tree cover and ensure
picturesque flowering round the year.

If Chandigarh is City Beautiful
today, it is solely because Randhawa was so driven by the zeal to plant trees.
So much so, he inspected the watering of these plants at 4 am every day. He
lived 30 km away from Chandigarh at his farmhouse in Kharar, but reached the
city unfailingly at 4 every morning and went from road to road ensuring that
all plants were watered and the dead saplings replaced.

Today, one has a perfect view of
white and golden silver oaks, jacarandas, lagerstormias, mahoganys, amaltas,
gulmohars, bauhinias (kachnar), etc. Randhawa gave a green cover of majestic
trees like pilkhan and Arjun.It was his vision that enabled a large number of
writers, poets, painters and artists to own residential plots in Chandigarh at
concessional rates.